Tony Briffa
7.30 Report (2013) | website = Briffa.org }} Tony Briffa born Antoinette Briffa in Altona, Victoria is an Australian, born to Maltese immigrants, who has Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome. Tony Briffa was an independent councillor, mayor and deputy mayor in the City of Hobsons Bay, VictoriaCouncillor Tony Briffa JP, Cherry Lake Ward, retrieved 14 February 2014. Briffa is considered the world's first openly intersex mayor and public office-bearer Tony Briffa was raised as a girl, then lived for a time as a man, and now chooses to live as both female and male.Living outside 'male or female', Australian Broadcasting Corporation 7.30 Report, 8 July 2013Animation: NICHE IDAHO Campaign: "I", Tony (YourStory), Video animation Briffa is one of the first people to be public about a chosen blank, indeterminate, birth certificate. Early life Tony Briffa was born with Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, raised as a girl and castrated at age seven to impose that assigned sex of rearing. Speaking to a 2013 Senate of Australia inquiry into the Involuntary or coerced sterilisation of intersex people in Australia, Briffa describes how doctors "convinced my mother to approve me to be castrated": Career Tony Briffa is the world's first openly intersex public mayor, and "the first known intersex public office-bearer in the Western world",Briffa to march in mayoral robes, Star Observer, 8 December 2011 serving as Deputy Mayor of the City of Hobsons Bay, Victoria, between 2009 and 2011, and Mayor between 2011–2012."Intersex Mayor Elected in Australia", Advocate.com, 9 December 2011"Tony Briffa Of Australia's City Of Hobsons Bay Becomes World's First Intersex Mayor", HuffingtonPost.com, 10 December 2011"World's first intersex mayor, Cr Tony Briffa does not want to be called he or she", Herald Sun, 15 April 2013"Melbourne elects Australia's first intersex Mayor", SameSame.com.au, 9 December 2011Australia elects world’s first intersex mayor, The Raw Story, 10 December 2011 Briffa resigned as a local councillor on 14 February 2014, effective on the appointment of a successor.Intersex ex-mayor of Hobsons Bay Tony Briffa calls it quits, Herald Sun, 14 February 2014.Resignation Announcement, Cr Tony Briffa, 14 February 2014. Tony Briffa has previously served as the President of the Genetic Support Network of Victoria. Briffa has also served as Vice-President of the Organisation Intersex International Australia and as President of the Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia;The OII Australia Board, Organisation Intersex International Australia, 12 October 2013. described as "the two leading groups advocating for the rights of intersex people in Australia".3rd Asia Pacific Outgames Human Rights Forum – Keynote Speakers Published works Selected published works include: * "Intersex Surgery Disregards Children’s Human Rights", a letter published in |Nature, in 2004. * "Tony Briffa writes on 'Disorders of Sex Development'" published by Organisation Intersex International Australia, 2014. * "Tony Briffa speaks at the Darwin Outgames Human Rights Forum" on the silencing of intersex people and barriers to hearing intersex voices, 2014. * "Proud intersex person Tony Briffa tells story of self discovery", published by News Corp Australia in 2014. * Parts of Briffa's life story are depicted in a short online animation. Personal life Birth certificate with blank sex classification Norrie May-Welby is popularly regarded as the first person with an indeterminate birth certificate, and "non-specific" sex was awarded by the High Court of Australia in April 2014 on the basis of May-Welby's failed sex affirmation surgery. However, Tony Briffa had previously obtained a birth certificate with a blank sex classification."About Tony ... | cr Tony Briffa", Briffa.org, 2012 "OII VP Tony Briffa to wed partner in NZ ceremony – Gay News Network", Gay News Network, 27 September 2013 Alex MacFarlane is believed to be the first."X marks the spot for intersex Alex", West Australian, via bodieslikeours.org. 11 January 2003"Ingrid Holme, "Hearing People's Own Stories", in Science as Culture, Volume 17, Issue 3, 2008""Neither man nor woman", Sydney Morning Herald. 27 June 2010Newsletter of the Sociology of Sexualities Section of the American Sociological Association, American Sociological Association Sexualities News, Volume 6, Issue 1, Summer 2003Ten years of ‘X’ passports, and no protection from discrimination, Organisation Intersex International Australia, 19 January 2013 Speaking to the Senate hearing on intersex sterilisation in March 2013, Briffa said: Pronouns Tony Briffa has been reported as requesting that fellow councillors not use gender-specific pronouns. Briffa made the following statement: "I am very public about being born biologically partially female and partially male and that I was raised as a girl and lived as a woman until I was 30. I ask all my friends and colleagues to respect my sex as what nature made me; both female and male." Marriage Legal issues presented by Tony Briffa's non-specific birth certificate mean that Briffa cannot lawfully marry in Australia. On 27 September 2013, Tony Briffa married Manja Sommeling in Dunedin, New Zealand.SameSame.com.au, 8 October 2013, "Tony and Manja's little Kiwi wedding""OII VP Tony Briffa to Wed Partner in NZ Ceremony", Gay News Network, 27 September 2013 Organisation Intersex International Australia notes:"Congratulations, Tony and Manja!", Organisation Intersex International Australia, 27 September 2013 References External links * Tony Briffa website * Hobson's Bay Council web page * Facebook page * Twitter page * Organisation Intersex International (OII) Australia * Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome Support Group Australia Category:1971 births Category:Activists from Australia Category:Intersex people Category:Intersex rights activists Category:People from Australia Category:Politicians from AustraliaCategory:Living people